WOLVESRIP LAKERS
MINNEAPOLIS— Taj Gibson scored a season-high 28 points and Jimmy Butler added 24, providing the Minnesota Timberwolves with the production and energy for a 119-111 comeback victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Thursday night.
Jeff Teague pitched in 20 points and Jamal Crawford added 15 for the Timberwolves, who rallied from a deficit as large as 15 points in the second quarter and 12 points late in the third to raise their home record to 24-7 on an emotional evening that started with a tribute to former coach and executive Flip Saunders.
Julius Randle had 23 points and nine rebounds for the Lakers before fouling out, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Brandon Ingram each scored 17 points.
Ivica Zubac, who went 8 for 8 from the floor for a seasonhigh 19 points, threw down a dunk for a 99-98 lead for the Lakers, but that was essentially their last momentum-creating play of the game.
Then Butler came up with crowd-pleasing blocks of Randle and Isaiah Thomas on consecutive possessions in the closing minutes, putting his stamp on yet another winning performance with his new team.
This was a win the Wolves badly needed before the All-Star break, after their 13-game home winning streak ended in humbling fashion on Tuesday against Houston. They moved within percentage points of San Antonio for third place in the Western Conference at 36-25. The Spurs are 35-24.
The Lakers shot so sharply to start the game, going 17 for 27 from the floor in the first quarter, that the Wolves produced separate spurts of 23-8 and 21-6 in the first half yet still trailed 65-62 at halftime. Randle cranked up his aggressiveness in the third quarter, taking the ball hard to the basket into the thick of the Wolves defense and finishing with 10 points in the period as the Lakers again pushed ahead. He drove and scored on KarlAnthony Towns for an 86-76 lead, and a frustrated Towns was called for an offensive foul on Brook Lopez to erase a spinmove layup on the next possession.
Hot Nuggets down Bucks
There’s something about playing in Milwaukee that brings out the best in Nikola Jokic.
Just over a year after recording his first triple-double at the BMO Harris Bradley Center, Jokic wrapped up the feat in the first half on the same floor Thursday night.
Besides Jokic’s big night, the Denver Nuggets put together one of the best 3-point shooting nights in league history in a 134-123 victory over the Bucks.
Denver matched a franchise record with 24 triples, one shy of the NBA record, on 40 tries.
Jokic finished with 30 points, 15 rebounds and 17 assists, reaching a triple-double with 1:54 left in the second quarter. That was the quickest triple-double in the NBA in the last 20 seasons, according to ESPN Stats & Info.